NLSUI OPAC header image
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

The moral economy : Why good incentives are no substitute for good citizens

By: Contributor(s):
Publication details: London Yale University Press 2016Description: 272p xiiiISBN:
  • 9780300163803
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 330.000000 BOW
Contents:
Summary: Why do policies and business practices that ignore the moral and generous side of human nature often fail? Should the idea of economic man determine how we expect people to respond to monetary rewards, punishments and other incentives? Samuel Bowles answers with a resounding 'no'. Policies that follow from this paradigm, he shows, may crowd out ethical and generous motives and thus backfire. But incentives per se are not really the culprit. Bowles shows that crowding out occurs when the message conveyed by fines and rewards is that self-interest is expected, that the employer thinks the workforce is lazy or that the citizen cannot otherwise be trusted to contribute to the public good
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Summary:
Why do policies and business practices that ignore the moral and generous side of human nature often fail? Should the idea of economic man determine how we expect people to respond to monetary rewards, punishments and other incentives? Samuel Bowles answers with a resounding 'no'. Policies that follow from this paradigm, he shows, may crowd out ethical and generous motives and thus backfire. But incentives per se are not really the culprit. Bowles shows that crowding out occurs when the message conveyed by fines and rewards is that self-interest is expected, that the employer thinks the workforce is lazy or that the citizen cannot otherwise be trusted to contribute to the public good

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.